[ad_1]
Four months after the last US troops left Kabul, Washington is still haunted by its withdrawal from Afghanistan and by the fact that it knows full well that the crises now gripping the country are unlikely to remain there.
However, if there is a hopeful story to emerge from this year’s Afghan disaster, it could be in the Western Balkans, a region that only a generation ago experienced a mass exodus of refugees, but which came to the fore last summer as a unexpected refuge for those fleeing the Taliban.
And all this was headed by Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania. Even before the fall of Kabul, Mr. Rama made this extraordinary decision to provide temporary shelter to vulnerable Afghans who had nowhere to go.
Since the end of August, more than 2,000 Afghans and their families, including prominent women figures, journalists and civil society activists, have been evacuated by third-party NGOs. (Among the NGOs involved is the For the Future of Afghanistan Foundation, on whose board I serve.)
Instead of hiding or underestimating this influx of foreigners, Albania’s leaders have embraced them with national pride.
When the first Afghan planes landed at Tirana airport this summer, the Albanian prime minister was on the runway to greet them in person.
For traumatized refugees arriving without money ‘in a foreign land, Mr. Rama’s presence was an extraordinary gesture to show that Albania would treat Afghans not as a burden to be endured, but as honored guests. that deserve respect.
For this reason Mr. Rama stopped the accommodation of Afghans in the camps and instead accommodated them in a coastal tourist complex.
The actions of the leaders of Albania have been in full accordance with their words. Whether in medical treatment, distributing winter clothes or organizing English courses, Albanians inside or outside the government have been creative and tireless partners in caring for Afghan refugees.
This has been even more impressive given Albania’s limited resources.
One of Europe’s smallest and poorest countries has been among the most generous in responding to the Afghan crisis.
“What we have done should not be considered extraordinary,” Mr. Rama told me in an interview.
“How could we have done otherwise?” He asks.
In explaining the decision to shelter Afghans, Mr. Rama and Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka evoke the experiences of Albanians themselves with the war and displacement during the Balkan unrest of the 1990s.
“We know what it is like to be forced to leave home, from your country”, says Mrs. Xhaçka.
They also cite their nation’s heroism in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.
Muslim-majority Albania ended World War II with a larger Jewish community than before it began.
However, cynics warned last summer that Albania’s benevolence would result in a boomerang provoking an internal political backlash, a terrorist threat or an influx of refugees.
None of these fears materialized. Afghans arriving in Albania are accepted through a carefully controlled process and in a manageable number. They tend to be educated professionals with close ties to the West, in other words the kind of people terrorized by Islamic extremists, not radicalized by them. For this reason, most also have strong chances of fleeing to the US.
It is in Washington’s interest that Albania is not penalized for its performance in this crisis, before its charitable capacities are exhausted.
The Biden administration should send US personnel to process the requests of Afghan refugees evacuated to Albania.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress in September that this would happen, but it has not yet happened.
In practice, the Biden administration has given more priority to Afghans sent to US military bases than to those evacuated to third countries such as Albania.
But the situation at Kabul airport last summer meant it was often arbitrary whether one ended up with an Air Force transport to Qatar or a charter flight to the Balkans.
Also arbitrary: The Biden administration has hinted that it may treat Afghans brought to Albania before 31 August differently from those who arrived afterwards. That would be contrary to the White House’s promises last summer that its commitment to endangered Afghans would not diminish following the US military withdrawal.
What is needed is a comprehensive, US-led solution for the Afghan community in Albania.
At a time when many Americans have lost faith in their ability to change the world for the better, Albania’s leadership should serve as a guide.
A quarter of a century ago, the US successfully assembled transatlantic democracies to end the genocidal violence that shattered the former Yugoslavia.
Now, the Western Balkans can remind a demoralized West of what a principled global leadership should look like and why it is still needed.WSJ/
(* Vance Serchuk is executive director of the Global NRC Institute and an associate at the Center for a New American Security)
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
